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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25313038">Children &amp; Dogs</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pauraque/pseuds/pauraque'>pauraque</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dogsbody - Diana Wynne Jones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dogs, Double Drabble, Gen, Healing, Hope, Mentions of past abuse, Multifandom Drabble Exchange, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:22:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>200</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25313038</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pauraque/pseuds/pauraque</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They're alike in many ways.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kathleen O'Brien &amp; Miss Smith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Multifandom Drabble 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Children &amp; Dogs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/frausorge/gifts">frausorge</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Miss Smith sat on the picnic blanket amongst the satisfying ruins of lunch, watching Kathleen and Matilda romp on the warm summer grass. With her knees and her hip, Miss Smith would never again be able to run, jump, and chase—this was one reason she'd hesitated over another dog after Lass—but Kathleen's sturdy legs and strong heart could keep up with a puppy's need for rough-and-tumble. Matilda went to her elbows and sprang up again, bouncing away with her russet ears flopping, and Kathleen danced and dodged round her, laughing in pink-faced joy, the braid in her hair coming loose (Miss Smith hadn't anything to tie it with when she idly plaited it for her earlier). </p><p>Over decades of teaching, Miss Smith had learned well the wary, weary look of a child who'd been hard done by, but only needed a little kindness to blossom. Children were like dogs in that way. Ill treatment may teach a pup to tremble and cringe from the hand of man, but after a few patient months of reassurance that hands meant treats and gentle strokes on the ears, so often they were miraculously ready to open their hearts and trust again.</p>
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